FOREST PLANTING IN THE LAKE STATES 
25 
suffer in competition with the surrounding vegetation. This 
method, wherein each man plants his own trees and preparation of 
the ground is unnecessary, is more rapid than the square-hole 
method. 
SLIT METHOD IN FUKROWS 
The slit method in furrows is the most economical method for 
planting on any land where furrows can be plowed (36). Furrows 
12 to 14 inches wide are plowed at regular intervals to a depth of 
2 to 3 inches. (PI. 2, B.) A sulky or breaking plow has been used 
successfully. The trees are planted in the furrows by the slit 
method. The advantages of the method are that it is rapid, it 
eliminates the competition of surrounding vegetation for a period 
of two to three years or longer, and the furrows serve to check or 
control the spread of any fire that might occur. 
COMPARISON OF RESULTS BY DIFFERENT METHODS 
Experiments (SO) with 2-2 northern white pine transplants in 
New York gave, two years after planting, the following results: 
Method 
Soil 
Percent- 
age living 
Furrow hole -. - 
Clay loam _ _ _____ 
90 
Hole 
...do 
87 
Mattock slit: 
do 
86 
Sod left 
do. . ____ 
62 
Hole . 
78 
Furrow hole - _ _ _ 
do 
98 
A similar experiment (12) in Massachusetts with 2-1 northern 
white pine and Norway spruce gave the following results in per- 
centage of trees living after two years : 
Method 
Percent- 
age of 
northern 
white 
pine 
Percent- 
age of 
Norway 
spruce 
Mattock hole _ _. __________ ... 
92 
80 
63 
78 
Slit, sod off _ 
66 
Slit, sod on ... ... _ ... 
The removal of a square of sod as a part of the hole or slit method 
increases the success of the planting, especially on areas of heavy 
sod or brush. Wherever the brush or timber is not so thick as to 
prevent, the plowing of shallow furrows in which the trees can be 
planted gives better results than similar planting without the fur- 
rows. For example, on a low sandy soil with 40 per cent of laurel 
(Kalmia (mgustifolia L.) cover, jack pine and northern white pine 
planted in furrows had 58 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively, of 
the trees living, whereas the adjacent area where furrows were not 
plowed had only 34 and 39 per cent. Also, the growth in the 
plowed plantation was distinctly better. This example also sug- 
gests that the benefits of furrow planting are greatest where the 
